Wildlife of Australia

From inside the book

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Page This dry centre is suited to mining, tourism and 'kangaroo farming', where native
animals, evolved to live in such areas, can be farmed but where introduced
animals can do considerable damage and even bring ruin to the country. The
land surrounding this central dry area is pastoral and covers a second third of the
continent. The final third is the area with suitable rainfall for growing crops. It is on
this thin strip around the coastline that most of the people live. The bulk of the
population ...

Page 8For example, platypus and beaver have much in common; echidna, hedgehog
and porcupine have all developed quills for defence; Australian marsupial mole
and African mole look very alike; possum, monkey and tree-kangaroo have
something in common ; Tasmanian tiger and Old World wolf have obvious
similarities. The list could be continued but it is reasonable to accept that animals
which live in the same kind of country and hunt the same kind of food would
develop structures ...

Page 70Birds. of. Prey. Here we have a group which has always inspired man's respect;
at times his anger. Perhaps, as the prime hunter of the animal kingdom, man
resents any competitors. However, among the birds of prey we have groups
which live entirely on carrion, dead animals of any kind. Others feed almost
entirely on insects or small birds and small mammals. Australia has no vultures
and no secretary birds but ...